New Semester!

Happy March everyone! This month I started my second semester at ECC. For me it has been business as usual as my two main kindergarten classes did not graduate but for my coworkers it has been quite a wild ride. ECC graduated either 10 classes in February and brought in 6 brand new classes to replace them. The new classes are all pretty low level so many of my coworkers have had to drastically change the way that they conduct their lessons. The classes that graduated were the best in the school of course, they were headed to elementary school and were mostly at a conversational level in their english ability. The new classes on the other hand don't know the alphabet. Needless to say this has caused some stressful days for the other teachers, I do believe that they are all enjoying it though. Despite the drastic level change each has told me that they think they are making progress with their students. You wouldn't believe how many complaints we are getting though, and over the simplest things too. Our head teacher Jessica told Natalie and someone else that this month they were getting more complaints than they had gotten in any month before. BUT NOT ME!

I did get one . . .

Two children's parents from Neptune class were unhappy about the small parts their kids were assigned in Drama. I had to explain, through my co-teacher Eunice, that there are small parts in every play and that someone's kid's had to play the small part no matter what. I ended up writing new lines for one kid and shuffling the other into another part, but it was funny hearing the nature of the complaints. Both parents were concerned that their children had done something wrong and were being punished. The simple truth is that I didn't know if they'd be good in drama or not, not that they were bad kids, but I was amazed at the horror I caused in giving them these parts. The way that Eunice, who told me about the complaint, made it seem is that the parents were genuinely concerned about the kid's status in the class. Have they been poorly behaved? Are they not doing their work in class? Are they being disruptive? NO, NO, NO your children are wonderful, they are two of my best students, somebody has to do those parts though.

Oh well I fixed those problems and have been pretty successful making the jump from Wake Up to Playground, the lower level book to the upper one. I have probably the two smartest classes in the school and I think the difference between these and the other 7 year old students is simply parenting. There is only so much we can do and the kids that make the most progress are the kids that go home everyday and practice. Of course the teacher makes a difference too but if the parents are working with their kids then the lessons are reinforced at home and the kid remembers them better. A lot also depends on the Korean teacher, who reinforce the lessons we present in class with the workbook, the stricter Korean teachers usually end up being the better ones I've found.

The one problem I have had involves the children adjusting to the new class format. Last semester there were 4 first year 6 year old classes. They have taken these and put them into three classes with the students from Pennsylvania, Columbia, Mars and Venus classes having been shuffled around into high(Neptune), medium(Eros) and low(Gauss) level classes. I teach Neptune and Eros the higher level classes but the kids have been shuffled around enough to throw the dynamic between them out of line. Mars class stayed together for the most part in Neptune class but absorbed two students from the old Pennsylvania class and one form Columbia. Venus class however was stripped into pieces. Michael, Yuna and Julie are now in Eros class with four Columbia kids and two Pennsylvania kids. They are a little bit below Neptune in terms of English ability but thats not where the problems have come from, they've come rather from the kids having to make new friends.

The girls from Venus have adjusted really well; Yuna and Julie are now very close friends with Anna, the girl from Columbia. Michael however has had some issues. The background of these problems is that Michael was very good friends with another boy, Peter, in Venus class. Peter was placed in Gauss class though and Michael has found himself as the only boy from Venus in the new Eros class. The other boys all have friends from their former classes to hang out with but Michael doesn't and he has had a rough time making new friends. He is getting better now but at the beginning of March he was very sulky all the time and acted out quite a bit. He still sits with Peter at lunch while the rest of the boys in Eros sit with each other, this is a bit of a problem. I think he's getting better but I'm still a little worried about him, because his attitude has really started to effect his progress.

That however has been the only real issue, classes are easy and even a bit more fun. All of the students are at more comparable levels so it is much more infrequent that I find myself back tracking to instruct the slower kids. I'm happy about this and it has really helped classes move along smoothly and constructively at all times.

In other events soccer is going well, two goals last weekend and then of course a huge drinking party afterwards. There really is nothing I can do about this but I get very drunk with my team. When we get there Pete and I are immediately handed bowls of Makali if it's a morning game or shots of soju if it's an evening dinner and commanded to take them in one shot. Deferring to your elders here is a huge deal as I think I've discussed before so when the 57 year old captain of the team demands us to drink, we drink, simple as that. I'm not complaining I love it but when we have Sunday matches they're almost always in the afternoon so it makes for an interesting Monday morning.

I'm beginning to really enjoy hanging out with the old men. I still have hardly any idea what they are saying most of the time but I've developed a good rapport with almost all of them. We have a few guys who speak English so when we eat I either talk to them or just watch them interact. It has been very interesting just to see how they treat each other, the older men especially. The inquiries of the old guys are answered almost immediately every time no matter what, if they shout from across the room or whisper across the table, they are immediately the focus of the rest of the conversation. It's nice to see, the room quiets when they want it too, speeches are common, and returns to the dull roar after they've finished. The tone is always jovial no matter what though but you can almost see the overlying web of respect hanging in from the ceilings of the restaurants.

We have our Seasonal Party coming up this Sunday so that of course will be an absurd night of drinking and mayhem. We will eat Sashimi, the Korean version of Sushi which I haven't been lucky enough to try yet, and I'm very excited about it. Four hour game and then Sashimi, should be fun.

Sorry it's been so long with these I've had a hectic few weeks, but I'm getting back on the horse with this and I hope to finish the year strong.

Pat